Now is the time to be scouting,,,,,

[riverrat56]

Just giving everyone a reminded that now is a good time to lock up some feilds for early goose season, sure they may not be cut yet, but this is why no one has asked, take a chance, find an area that has held lots of birds in the past and start knocking on doors....

We got permission every place we went today, including some spots that we were turned down on in the past, and some very promising feilds. One place had a pea feild, a sweet corn feild, and a wheat feild all within a 1/4 mile of a slough that is full of geese, everything is owned (including the slough) by 1 person, a little knocking on doors to find out who the owner was and then a nice walk through the beans to get to him in the tractor and we've got it for the whole season...

[Tim Boomgarden]

Right now is a good time!!! I am with you on that riverrat!! Lots of good feilds around me and I got the gravle pits that I had last year that produced two bands out of it!! I am ready to go!!!

[riverrat56]

I'll be headed down your direction tomorrow to check on some feilds around the Hanska area, nice to have all the bases covered and feilds for 30 miles to hunt.

[Tim Boomgarden]

I hear ya on that, I have a buddy that got some feilds last week that we have been hunting in sleepy eye for the past three years . So I think that all we have to do is put some miles on and find the birds and we should be good!! I live three miles from lake hanska. You are on the right track with getting around hanska now. Last year I had some problems with some hanska boys that went into one of the fields we had locked up and said that they didn't care who owned it or who was hunting it! It was kind of early to call the land owner so I just let them hunt and I went to a field down the road closer to the roost and pulled them in before they got close to that field LOL! Maybe I will see ya around this season!!!

[riverrat56]

I know how that goes with trespassers all to well, skip the land owner, call the CO or threaten too, most people loose their cocky attitude when law enforcment might get involved.

[Abrams]

Why scout now? Let's say you find an oats field with geese in it. Don't you think they will eat it out before the season starts in a month?

[dan z]

now is time to get the fields dont look for geese the fields there in now with be empty come the sixth of next month but it dont hurt to have the fields sometimes they still hold a few little flocks and passer by ers

[riverrat56]

I look for locations that I know have held geese in the past, take the are we were talking about, Lake Hanska, it is a very large lake that holds many geese, finding a feild that is near it and you have the potential to be in for a great shoot. I could care less if there is geese in any of these feilds right now, all of them were still unpicked or HSO anyways.

To answer your question of "Why scout now?" Because most people haven't yet and you are more than likely the first person to knock on that door this year and have a very good chance as gaining access to that feild.

[Tim Boomgarden]

Riverrat has a good point, most of the guys I know wait till there is a field with geese in it and then go and try to get on it. But that is the problem because someone has got permission already and the land owner only wants one group on there at once. That is why I am with riverrat on this and go and try to pick up as many fields as I can now so when season comes I have many options. I know that some say that it is rude that you have so many fields and you can only hunt one at a time> But I look at it this way get out there and get some early so you yourself have a good field to hunt!!!

[riverrat56]

I don't know if you do this or not Tim, but just a thought for everyone, if you have 15 feilds, and only 4 or 5 have geese (hopefully that many), give the landowner a call, tell them you won't be hunting their feild this year, you appreciate that they would have let you though and tell them to let someone else hunt it if they ask. I have burned some bridges in the past by not hunting a feild that had no geese in it, the landowner was turning away people who wanted to hunt it because we had ask first and we never showed up to hunt. All in all it was a bad situation so this is just a suggestion to keep good relations with landowners.

[Sartell Angler]

that is a good point, although you don't really know where the birds are gonna be on any given day and what could be an empty field for the first weekend could wind up stacked the next weekend. If a group has nowhere to go and they just want a chance to run some traffic it is nice if they're able to get on a field though so I see your point too.

[PierBridge]

Good Thread!

You are wise beyond your years Riverat56!

[Tim Boomgarden]

I do do that Riverrat. I try to keep around 5-7 feilds for me in early season. But this year I think that I am only going to get like four since I had such good luck on them last year. I look at it this way if you and your buddy each have two feilds a piece you have alot of options throughout the season to kill birds. And you can dump the fields that aren't working and give it [PoorWordUsage] on the ones that are!!

[riverrat56]

We did get burned and have a feild that was empty all season load up with birds the last weekend of early goose last year, but we still managed to shoot a few birds that day in a feild not to far from there, so it wasn't too bad.

[Tim Boomgarden]

Went tonight and nothing using any fields of my but they just picked my oat field so this weekend is gonna be the weekend of getting out in the morn and evening watching to see if they find it or not. I hope they do!!!!